Cambridge IGCSE™

COMBINED SCIENCE 0653/61

Paper 6 Alternative to Practical May/June 2020
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 40

Published

Students did not sit exam papers in the June 2020 series due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

This mark scheme is published to support teachers and students and should be read together with the
question paper. It shows the requirements of the exam. The answer column of the mark scheme shows the
proposed basis on which Examiners would award marks for this exam. Where appropriate, this column also
provides the most likely acceptable alternative responses expected from students. Examiners usually review
the mark scheme after they have seen student responses and update the mark scheme if appropriate. In the
June series, Examiners were unable to consider the acceptability of alternative responses, as there were no
student responses to consider.

Mark schemes should usually be read together with the Principal Examiner Report for Teachers. However,
because students did not sit exam papers, there is no Principal Examiner Report for Teachers for the June
2020 series.

Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.

Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the June 2020 series for most Cambridge
IGCSE™ and Cambridge International A & AS Level components, and some Cambridge O Level
components.

This document consists of 7 printed pages.

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Generic Marking Principles

These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers. They should be applied alongside the
specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these
marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

• the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
• the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
• the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

• marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit is given for valid answers which go beyond the
scope of the syllabus and mark scheme, referring to your Team Leader as appropriate
• marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
• marks are not deducted for errors
• marks are not deducted for omissions
• answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these features are specifically assessed by the
question as indicated by the mark scheme. The meaning, however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed instructions or in the application of generic level
descriptors.

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GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question (however; the use of the full mark range may
be limited according to the quality of the candidate responses seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should not be awarded with grade thresholds or
grade descriptors in mind.

Science-Specific Marking Principles

1 Examiners should consider the context and scientific use of any keywords when awarding marks. Although keywords may be present, marks
should not be awarded if the keywords are used incorrectly.

2 The examiner should not choose between contradictory statements given in the same question part, and credit should not be awarded for any
correct statement that is contradicted within the same question part. Wrong science that is irrelevant to the question should be ignored.

3 Although spellings do not have to be correct, spellings of syllabus terms must allow for clear and unambiguous separation from other syllabus
terms with which they may be confused (e.g. ethane / ethene, glucagon / glycogen, refraction / reflection).

4 The error carried forward (ecf) principle should be applied, where appropriate. If an incorrect answer is subsequently used in a scientifically
correct way, the candidate should be awarded these subsequent marking points. Further guidance will be included in the mark scheme where
necessary and any exceptions to this general principle will be noted.

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5 ‘List rule’ guidance

For questions that require n responses (e.g. State two reasons …):

• The response should be read as continuous prose, even when numbered answer spaces are provided
• Any response marked ignore in the mark scheme should not count towards n
• Incorrect responses should not be awarded credit but will still count towards n
• Read the entire response to check for any responses that contradict those that would otherwise be credited. Credit should not be
awarded for any responses that are contradicted within the rest of the response. Where two responses contradict one another, this
should be treated as a single incorrect response
• Non-contradictory responses after the first n responses may be ignored even if they include incorrect science.

6 Calculation specific guidance

Correct answers to calculations should be given full credit even if there is no working or incorrect working, unless the question states ‘show
your working’.

For questions in which the number of significant figures required is not stated, credit should be awarded for correct answers when rounded by
the examiner to the number of significant figures given in the mark scheme. This may not apply to measured values.

For answers given in standard form, (e.g. a × 10n) in which the convention of restricting the value of the coefficient (a) to a value between 1
and 10 is not followed, credit may still be awarded if the answer can be converted to the answer given in the mark scheme.

Unless a separate mark is given for a unit, a missing or incorrect unit will normally mean that the final calculation mark is not awarded.
Exceptions to this general principle will be noted in the mark scheme.

7 Guidance for chemical equations

Multiples / fractions of coefficients used in chemical equations are acceptable unless stated otherwise in the mark scheme.

State symbols given in an equation should be ignored unless asked for in the question or stated otherwise in the mark scheme.

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Question Answer Marks

1(a) 8/9; 1

1(b)(i) (surface area) cube B = 600 AND cube C = 150 ; 1

1(b)(ii) (volume) cube B = 1000 AND cube C = 125 ; 1

1(c)(i) (cube B) 145 ; 2

(cube C) 47 ;

1(c)(ii) time (to change colour to red) AND / s ; 1

1(c)(iii) increase in surface area to volume ratio takes less time to change / ORA ; 1

1(c)(iv) acid diffuses in ; 2

pH changes to acidic ;

1(c)(v) cutting AND use knife, on solid surface / away from body ; 1
OR
acid / indicator AND use, gloves / goggles ;

1(d)(i) suitable scale chosen ; 2

all points plotted correctly ;

1(d)(ii) suitable curve of best fit ; 1

Question Answer Marks

2(a)(i) (volumetric) pipette ; 1

2(a)(ii) (experiment 2) 5.9 ; 2

(experiment 3) 5.3 ;

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Question Answer Marks

2(a)(iii) (volumes) 5.3 and 5.1 1

AND
(explanation) the others were not neutral / go orange at the end point / others had too much acid added ;

2(a)(iv) 5.2 / correct average calculated from their chosen volumes ; 1

2(a)(v) average calculated in (a)(iv) × 3 ; 1

2(a)(vi) neutralisation / acid-base ; 1

2(b)(i) (more concentrated solution) hydrochloric acid AND less used than sodium hydroxide ; 1

2(b)(ii) (25 / 5.2 =) 5 / 4.8 ; 1

2(c)(i) chloride / Cl – ; 1

2(c)(ii) sodium chloride ; 1

2(c)(iii) tripod and Bunsen burner and evaporating basin (and gauze) ; 2
two correct labels ;

Question Answer Marks

3(a)(i) line emerging at 90° to the straight edge and labelled X ; 1

3(a)(ii) 52(°) ;; 2

(if answer is incorrect allow one mark for answer in range of 49-55°)

3(b) any one from: 1

repeat AND average ;
use a dark room / low light level / use a bright light source ;
narrow beam of light / use of thin slit ;
avoid parallax error when taking measurements ;

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Question Answer Marks

3(c) no AND reference to a pair of values from Table 3.1 ; 1

3(d) (estimate of critical angle =) answer greater than 40° and less than or equal to 50° ; 1

3(e) measure angle of refraction for angles of incidence in between 40° and 50° / carefully move the light source around the 1
curve back and forth to find the smallest angle of incidence where no light is refracted and measure this angle of
incidence ;

Question Answer Marks

4 one marking point from each section and any three others: 7

method and apparatus

fill tank with water to a specified depth (< 20 cm) ;
use of stopwatch / suitable timing device ;
repeat and take average for each depth ;

variables
keep method of producing waves the same ;
same water source / same environment ;
minimum of four values of depth of water given ;
values of depth have a range of at least 15 cm AND do not exceed 20 cm maximum depth ;

results
time for the waves to travel length of tank AND depth of water ;

conclusion
calculation of speed of waves from the time measurements ;
use results to plot graph of depth against speed ;
look for pattern in the change of speed as depth increases ;

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